Victoria - Canada
Just got to Vancouver, the goal of my road trip from east to west through Canada, but felt as if it’s not time to “settle” yet. I wanted to explore the Vancouver Islands before to see if I rather live there than in the big city Vancouver is. Luckily in my hostel in Vancouver downtown I met two travelers who also wanted to explore the island. First, I agreed with a German girl to share a car and since we also got along pretty well with a French guy, we decided to invite him as well (btw. in case you are wondering, I'll never mention names here or post pictures of others to keep their privacy). A few days later our road trip trio set out via ferry from Vancouver to Victoria on Vancouver Island. We rented a car together to explore the island and if you can split the costs between three it’s actually really affordable to travel around the island. The hostels aren’t too expensive, especially if you compare it to Vancouver or Toronto and the distances aren’t too far. Just did 813km in the week we had the car and I was the driver. It was totally fine for me, especially with nice music, good talks and a stunning scenery around us. Another factor is that we got there mid October so it was off season. So again, the pros of off-season travel for me mostly overweight but this time we actually had some bad luck according to the weather. It rained a lot, so I needed to buy rainboots and we hiked with raincoats and umbrellas. Still, it was beautiful and we had loads of fun! Traveling solo is really nice but I enjoyed having company and conversation that ranged deeper than just small talk and would sure do it again. Actually I hope to see the island itself again too since we weren’t able to do some stuff that we wanted too, for example a whale watching trip got canceled because the storm was too strong and we couldn’t to kayak due to the same reasons and there are some other places I would like to see. So hopefully I’ll find an opportunity to explore Vancouver Island again in Spring or Summer 2020.
Now back to Vancouver Island. It’s a relaxed city by the water and I liked the vibes. Still I decided that Vancouver would be my choice to settle for work, but who knows what the future holds for me 😉
Btw. since Vancouver Island is a really beautiful one and I took loads of pictures I decied to split it up into three parts, so the ones about Nanaimo and surroundings and Tofino and surroundings is going to come soon while this one focuses about Victora and everything we did nearby.
Sky above the ferry, clouds can look so nice to me.
Passing by cute islands on the way, some bigger with houses on it, some without. Imagine having a place here, I would love it. Not as a daily place, but for weekends or vacation.
Downtown Victoria
Inner harbour with this cute water planes. Would love to ride one of them one day.
The sun was ready to settle when we started to explore Victoria on the first day. The traveling to the island took about 4 hours in total.
It's all about the reflection, isn't it?
Fisherman's Wharf, sadly we got there when they where just closing up. Next time I will go by day, still loved the look of the lights and the reflections.
The light made this water greenish, in real life this looked even better!
Legislative Assembly of British Columbia light up at night.
Since we got there hat late we had to enjoy the night with a few drinks 😉
50 shades of autum at the Beacon Hill Park.
Pose for me darling!
A weeping willow is one of my favorite trees beside a birch and definitly maple trees ❤
Rosegarden in the park.
Not a big fan of roses, they look to plane to me, but these wild looking ones look really great!
This is the World's Tallest Free-Standing Totem Pole - 127 feet (53m). Wasn't too special to me, I saw nicer ones before, but it was on our "tourist checklist" 😉
Finlayson Point with a great view over the sea just south of the Becon Hill Park.
Sandcut Beach
Around an hour drive west from Victoria we got recommended to visit two beaches by a waitress in a bar we went to. I love to follow the recommendations of locals so we had to check it out and it was definitely worth it. A really short hike through the rainforest down to the beach and you’ll find a beautiful view with two waterfalls.
Grumpy tree :D
There was a asian family who let their kids play at this beach which added some nice colors too it 😉
The two waterfalls, you can walk up on top of them as well.
Btw. the shades you see on the right side of this pictures at the horizon is the USA.
Rocky beach and obviosly some animal snaked the rest of this crab 😉
Mystic Beach
Not even 10 minutes more by car you’ll have a longer hike to this stunning beach also with a waterfall by the water. It is about an hour hike going up and down over roots and even a small suspension bridge. We got there short before sunset and really had to hurry back through the forest with rough light conditions at the end to get back to the car, but the hustle was absolutely worse it! Want to come back next time with some more time around here 😊
My fear of heights was quiet that day and I was thankful for that!
Sunset and again the USA not far apart, even my mobil phone welcomed me to the USA :D
Small but nice waterfall by the ocean.
Saying goodby to a great first day with the car. As promised, two more blogs about Vancouver Island are comming soon!